69: Stop and search

My young adult sons have never been pulled over and searched by the police, but for their BAME friends, this is a frequent occurrence. My sons feel the injustice of this acutely, but have never been present during a Stop & Search so haven't been able to challenge anything. A former pupil of mine, now aged 17, is frequently pulled over by the police. He is of mixed heritage - his Mum is white and his Dad is Jamaican. On one occasion, he had come with his Mum to pick up his little sisters and they had spoken to one of our Assistant Heads. On their way home, a police car pulled over, two officers jumped out and pinned the boy against the wall. His mother was screaming at the police to let her son go, but they wouldn't listen to her. They told her he "matched the description" of someone who had just perpetrated a crime, to which she answered "Why? Because he's mixed race and wearing a hoodie?". The mother even phoned school to speak to the Assistant Head and ask her to verify that her son had been at our school 10 minutes earlier, rather than being on the streets committing a crime. The police refused to listen.